Double Thunder Raceway
The Double Thunder Raceway was Lagoon's first new ride in 2000 beating Samurai's opening by a couple of months. This ride is part of Lagoon's X-Venture Zone. It doesn't cost much to ride and I think that it is well worth the 5.50 to drive. But I would recommend only going on the ride when the line isn't too long. There are two tracks to choose from. The Lightning track and the Thunder track. Lightning is the track that is closest to Boomerang (east track) and Thunder is the track that is closest to the freeway (west track). Both are similar in length with Lightning being only 22 feet longer than Thunder. And each offers camel backs, sweeping turns, 360 degree spirals, straight-aways, overpasses and plenty of fun! The ride contains a remote control safety system which can slow and stop the cars as needed, ground control speed devices for entering the pit, a voice announcing system to warn drivers, and traffic signal lights to indicate the status of the track. Like I mentioned earlier, when you decide to ride Double Thunder Raceway, check the length of the line. This ride has a very slow moving line. Each race takes 5 minutes, but you also have to add in extra time for loading and unloading the ride, beginning the race, ending the race, and each time the race is halted to fix a spun car. The race timer is paused whenever the race is stopped, so the time it takes to complete a race does increase when problems arise. If you enter the line with that in mind, than the wait won't be as bad. One way to avoid long waits and get a good amount of driving in is behaving while on the ride. Drivers who intentionally run into each other cause the most spins. While this may seem fun at first, having the race stopped every 30 seconds to fix a spun car takes away from the enjoyment of the ride. Spin-outs happen from time to time especially when you are trying to pass another person, so it's okay if it happens, but avoid doing it on purpose to get the most enjoyment out of this attraction. Fun Facts When Double Thunder Raceway originally opened it used a go-kart model known as "Double Thunder" which I believe is where Lagoon got the name for the ride although that is just a theory. The Double Thunder cars were on the Thunder track and the Sidewinder cars were on Lightning. The Double Thunder cars looked like mini stock cars and when you were in them you were more enclosed than traditional go-kart cars. Sadly the Double Thunder cars proved to be a problem because they were hard to get into, very uncomfortable, and you could only see through your "window" when you were driving. It didn't take long for Lagoon to replace the Double Thunder cars with the single seater Viper cars that they use now. In fact they made the switch just a few months after the ride opened. Gallery Double Thunder.jpg Category:X-Venture Zone Category:Rides